ECB says outlook bleak but ready to use any means necessary to stoke growth

Euronews

The European Central bank says its financial stimulus measures are starting to have effect, but it is ready to do more should the current package not succeed.

The bank says it expects to see growth quicken in 2015 and beyond into 2016. If it does not the bank said we could expect more unusual and novel approaches.

“The other unconventional measures might entail the purchase of a variety of assets, one of which is sovereign bonds”, said bank boss Mario Draghi.

These include quantitative easing as practised in the US, basically printing money to get credit going again, although Draghi said there were signs the credit trough had passed.

The outlook was bleak, warned Draghi, as persistent low growth and inflation could lead to deflation as governments were more concerned with cutting back and plugging debt holes than stimulating growth.

One key possible measure, the buying of government bonds by the ECB, is being strongly opposed by Germany.